All articles tagged with #venice 2026
Venice 2026 unexpectedly crowned May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown Best Film, a poised Danish arthouse drama set post-WWII about a maid’s marriage and the quiet, pointed dynamics of domestic life, celebrated for its silences, precise detail, and its meditation on the female body as a battleground.
Lee Chang-dong’s Netflix-produced Possible Love premieres at Venice 2026 as a sprawling 164-minute drama that weaves two wealthy and working-class families together through a documentary about labor strife. Drawing formal inspiration from The Decalogue, the film is framed as a sweeping, political, and hypnotic piece that may stand as the festival’s strongest work, with a theatrical release slated for October 23.
At Venice 2026, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger is presented as a tear-jerker documentary that blends onstage Oasis footage with intimate fan portraits, tracing the band’s 2025 reunion and showing how Oasis’s global myth resonates because fans infuse their own dreams into the music. The film foregrounds the Noel/Liam saga as a core element and is framed as history written by the winners, but some critics wish for broader analysis of Oasis mania beyond the emotional pull.
At Venice 2026, Kore-eda's Look Back converts Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga (and Oshiyama's anime) into a patient, beautifully shot live-action drama about two girls who become co-creators; the film expands the story’s time frame to explore the cost and joy of making art, aided by strong performances, a measured tempo, and Senzo Ueno’s lush cinematography; GKIDS will release it in theaters later this year.
Maggie Gyllenhaal critiques the Venice Film Festival for its scarcity of female directors this year, using the moment to spotlight ongoing gender imbalance in major festival lineups; the piece also weighs the role of politics in festival press conferences, noting debates about whether Q&As should address politics and contrasting Berlin’s push to minimize political questions with Venice’s evolving approach.
Venice 2026 opens with a notable absence of big Oscar contenders: titles pundits hoped would launch the awards race (including The Social Reckoning, Cliff Booth, and Dune: Part Three) aren’t on the lineup due to reshoots, VFX, and marketing choices. Digger was kept off the festival, and several others may pivot to Telluride or NYFF. The festival still features strong auteur work, but the lack of marquee Oscar films has analysts buzzing about Venice’s grip on the awards season, with only Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine seen as a clear Oscar contender this year and room for a surprise later in the season.
Venice 2026 adds Naza, a new documentary by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor about Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, shot at night on Tel Aviv rooftops; executive produced by Jonathan Glazer and produced by The Guardian and JW Films, it builds on revelations linked to No Other Land and Masafer Yatta.
Venice Film Festival has unveiled its 2026 lineup, boasting a star‑studded competition that includes Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz, Alicia Vikander and the Oasis Gallagher brothers, with returns from directors Werner Herzog, Hirokazu Koreeda, Lee Chang-dong, Nanni Moretti and Martin McDonagh. Danny Boyle’s Ink will open the festival and Dio Ride will close it, while non-fiction highlights feature Alex Gibney’s Musk and Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger. Maggie Gyllenhaal will chair the competition jury and George Clooney will receive an honorary Golden Lion, as the program expands with sections like Venice Spotlight and Venice Open.